BILLIONAIRES’ FIRST STEPS: THE RICHEST PEOPLE’S FIRST JOBS & EDUCATION

Sep 20, 2017

75 of the World’s richest 100 people have earned a degree. Of these 75, 22 studied a degree in engineering.

53 of the World’s top 100 billionaires started working in a non-family owned business. 19% of these billionaires started working in a salesperson role and 17% started working as a stock trader.

17% of the World’s top 100 billionaires started their careers by setting up their own business.

What type of person is more likely to become a billionaire? New research from Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment suggests that people who start their career in a salesperson role are more likely to hit it rich.

A study into the richest 100 people in the World has investigated whether there is any trend between your first career steps and how rich you become. The research suggests that engineering and business graduates are most likely to become billionaires, and if you want to become one of the world’s richest you should start your career in a sales or stock trader role. Furthermore, you are far more likely to make the top 100 list if you are a graduate – 75% of the top 100 have earned a degree.

The research into first career steps looks at the billionaires who started working in an organisation that was not their own, or family owned. These billionaires were then grouped into type of first job, which gave the following job roles as the top 5 results:

Job Role

Count of Job Category
(Total = 53)

Salesperson

10

Stock Trader

9

Software Developer

5

Engineer

5

Analyst (Varied)

4

The study also looks at the top degree subject by type, which gave the following degree categories as the top 5 results:

Rob Scott, Managing Director at Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment said: “Today we are seeing that nearly all of the top people in business are graduates and that a degree can be a great first-step into preparing you for your career ahead. It’s also unsurprising how many of the top 100 billionaires started working as salespeople, which can give you the communication and negotiation skills which are vital to succeed.”